Busu Secondary School topped Morobe Province in the 2022 Grade 10 examination.
During the recent head teachers and principals’ conference, hosted at the Lae Secondary School, chairman Chris Raymond revealed the results of the schools in the province, saying of Busu’s 386 Grade 10 students, 333 were eligible for Grade 11 this year.
“Only 50 missed out on selections,” he stated. “In terms of ranking, Bugandi ranked 10, Busu ranked number 1. They have an 87 percent retention rate.”
The Lae Christian Academy was ranked second since out of its 20 Grade 10 students, 15 continued while 5 missed out, giving it a retention rate of 75 percent.
“Lae Secondary School, from 540, 365 were eligible; that’s about 67 percent retention for us. In terms of population, Lae secondary has the highest number of Grade 10 students. In terms of ranking, we’re ranked number three,” said Raymond, who is also Lae secondary’s principal.
Coming in fourth place was The International School of Lae. Out of its 24 students last year, 14 passed while 10 missed out, giving it 58 percent retention.
Raymond pointed out that LCA and TISOL had less than 30 Grade 10 students each, compared to other government schools with over 200.
For Dregerhafen Technical Secondary School, out of its 347 students, only 65 were eligible while 282 could not continue to Grade 11. Raymond described it as “very poor performance”, saying they only have an 18 percent retention rate.
Raymond said the Malahang Technical Secondary School has also been performing poorly for consecutive years. In 2022, of its 348 Grade 10 students, 66 passed while 282 discontinued.
“Take note of the negative criticism as a challenge for us. Just take it. But I can tell you, and I have records to prove, that many of us have not really improved much for the last 10 years.”
Raymond also expressed his disappointment with the Salamaua Provincial High School head teacher, Norman Apul, who took up the post in early 2022.
“Salamaua, from the 248 students, only 47 were retained. That’s a poor performance, Salamaua! We need an improved performance, Salamaua.”
In total, from Morobe’s 230 high and secondary schools, only 2,297 of 5,777 students were eligible; 3,480 students missed out on selections. This means 60 percent of Morobe students in 2022 did not pass their Grade 10 examinations.
The Provincial Education Board stressed that principals and head teachers will be removed if their schools are constantly under-performing.